UOB Private Bank has been creating buzz with its industry-leading digital app TMRW ever since its introduction in Singapore in 2021. The app has been rolled out in Indonesia and Thailand and is regarded as one of southeast Asia’s premier digital tools for the wealthy.
TMRW is an all-in-one personalized app that provides immediate access to accounts, investment and insurance products and government agencies. It has built-in artificial intelligence and machine learning models that enable the bank to grow with its customers as their financial needs change.
It’s but one example of how UOB continues to turn heads in the digital sphere. It also shows how the bank is very much on top of the digital arms race of sorts that is coursing through the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
In Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, TMRW is bringing together the bank’s latest innovations with earlier mobile app UOB Mighty onto one platform. UOB has streamlined its digital on-boarding and service capabilities across bank departments, thus lowering costs.
For the team led by Chew Mun Yew, head of private wealth at UOB, digital tools are proving a potent part of the bank’s services for clients: such innovation is helping bankers create hyper-personalized customer experience for wealthy clients.
It helps that the broader UOB group is among the world's highest-rated banks, with an Aa1 rating from Moody's and AA- from S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings. From its homebase in Singapore, UOB has grown to more than 500 offices in 19 countries worldwide. Its private bank network includes a firm foothold in mainland China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, where it generally serves the ultra-high net-worth segment.
UOB Private Bank benefits from being able to harness the broader group's credentials. It can tap into the strengths across UOB's commercial and retail banking units to meet clients’ personal and corporate wealth management needs.
The investment approach followed by the firm is guided by a trio of principles. The first is getting the asset allocation right. The bank’s first step is to figure out long-term financial objectives and risk temperament.
Second, smart diversification. That means clients should invest globally, across various asset classes and sectors. Third is ensuring that a portfolio’s returns are driven by value and quality. UOB advises clients against chasing prices and buying overvalued investments. Rather, a balanced and sober long-term view is always best.
The private bank is adding more features into its digital capabilities, including intelligence on charitable causes with which UOB is associated. It’s forging digital links between generations, too, through services related to succession planning, including its popular next-gen programme.